NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — School may be out for kids, but it remained in session Monday for city education officials now in the process of hiring pre-kindergarten teachers.

“We want parents to know that we’re going now to make sure that whatever classroom they find for their child, there will be a fantastic pre-K teacher in that classroom for them,” said Deputy Mayor Rich Buery.

City Begins Hiring Teachers For New Pre-Kindergarten Programs

Buery explained that more than 2,000 teachers applied for 1,000 slots. But parents also have an assignment in finding the right pre-K program for their child.

“Parents have to do their homework, and we may for them, though,” he said.

A website has been set up, and parents can also text 877877 or call 311.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature campaign pledge was to fund universal pre-kindergarten and expanded after-school programs for middle-schoolers with a tax hike on the city’s wealthy.

When that idea died in Albany, the state government stepped in with $300 million for pre-K but little for the after-school programs, prompting the mayor to proposing spending $145 million in the next fiscal year to expand programs for nearly 100,000 children.